There have been many candidates, some of them even self-nominated (aka Craig Steven Wright and most recently James Bilal Khadid Caan), but none have been able to deliver definitive evidence to prove their outlandish claims.

The lack of concrete proof has led to a wave of speculation with many pointing fingers at several pivotal figures.

Here is, in no particular order, an overview of the standout Nakamoto candidates.

Harold Finney

Born on May 4, 1956, Harold Thomas Finney II was a developer for the PGP Corporation and led the development of several console games throughout his career.

Finney was also an early Bitcoin contributor and received the first-ever transaction in the cryptocurrency from Nakamoto.

For 10 years, Finney lived in the same town as Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, adding to the speculation that he could have created the cryptocurrency.

In March 2013, Finney posted a message on industry forum BitcoinTalk saying he was paralyzed but continued to program until his death. He was in fact working on experimental software called bcflick, which leverages trusted computing to boost Bitcoin wallets.

In February 2018, Kleiman’s brother Ira, the executor of his state, started a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Wright over the rights to anything around 550,000 to 1,100,000 BTC.

As part of the lawsuit, Ira claims Wright defrauded the estate of Bitcoins and intellectual property rights, claiming Kleinman was one of Bitcoin‘s early pioneers and worked alongside Wright to launch the cryptocurrency.

So, there you have it. There are several standout candidates to being Satoshi Nakamoto, which for some reason or another, the media thought plausible.

But the truth is, it’s possible Nakamoto may never come forward. He may even no longer be with us, but this won’t deter Faketoshis from doing what they do best: stake a claim to what isn’t theirs.

In the meantime, and until someone is able to move Nakamoto’s coins or sign a message with the genesis block keys, the search for Bitcoin‘s first true billionaire is likely to continue.